Tossing something into the recycling bin feels good. It’s a small act of responsibility—an easy way to feel like you’re helping the planet. But what if that effort is doing more harm than good?
Recycling only works when done correctly. Unfortunately, millions of well-intentioned people are “wish-cycling”—putting items into the bin they hope are recyclable, even if they aren’t. The problem? These materials can contaminate entire loads of recyclables, forcing facilities to trash the entire batch. That means more waste, higher processing costs, and a recycling system strained to the breaking point.
Here are seven common items you might think are recyclable but are actually making landfills worse.
1. Greasy Pizza Boxes
Cardboard is recyclable, right? Not if it’s soaked in oil and cheese. Greasy pizza boxes are a top offender when it comes to recycling contamination. While clean cardboard is a valuable recyclable, once it’s stained with food residue, it becomes nearly impossible to process.
The grease clogs up the pulping process during recycling, leading to poor-quality paper or machinery breakdowns. Even if part of the box is clean, many facilities won’t take the risk, so the entire load might be trashed.
If your pizza box has large oil stains or food stuck to it, tear off the clean top and recycle that part only. Toss the greasy bottom in the trash or compost it if possible.
2. Plastic Bags and Film
It might seem like a no-brainer to recycle plastic grocery bags, sandwich bags, or shrink wrap, but these soft plastics are a nightmare for standard recycling systems. They tangle up the sorting equipment at material recovery facilities (MRFs), causing costly shutdowns and delays.
Even though many bags have recycling symbols, curbside programs typically can’t handle them. These plastics require special processing and should only be dropped off at designated collection bins, often found at grocery stores.
By placing them in curbside bins, you risk contaminating recyclables and creating more landfill waste than if you had simply thrown them out properly.
3. Disposable Coffee Cups
You might assume your morning coffee cup belongs in the recycling bin. After all, it’s paper, right? Not exactly. Most disposable coffee cups have a thin plastic lining inside to prevent leaks. That lining is difficult to separate from the paper, making the cup unrecyclable in most municipal systems.
Even worse, the cup can contaminate the recycling stream if it’s full of leftover coffee or sugar. And the plastic lid? Only certain types are recyclable, depending on your local guidelines.
Instead, the best solution is to bring a reusable mug, or, if you must go disposable, throw the cup in the trash unless you know your area accepts it.
4. Clamshell Packaging
Those clear plastic containers that hold berries, salad greens, or bakery items are usually made from PET plastic—the same type as water bottles. But that doesn’t mean they’re recyclable in the same way.
Clamshells are often made from a lower grade of PET, which contains food residue and adhesive labels that make them harder to process. Many facilities don’t accept them, and even if they do, clamshells can flatten during sorting, tricking machines into identifying them as paper.
The result? Contamination or missed sorting, with the material ending up in landfills. When in doubt, skip putting clamshells in your bin.
5. Shredded Paper
It’s made of paper, so it should be recyclable, right? Not quite. While full sheets of paper are welcome in most recycling programs, shredded paper presents a big problem.
The tiny bits are hard to sort, tend to escape during processing, and often clog up machinery. Worse, if the shredded paper is placed in a bag (as most people do), the facility won’t open it, and the entire bag is tossed in the trash.
If you need to dispose of shredded paper, check for composting options or drop-off programs designed to handle it separately from regular recycling.
6. Frozen Food Boxes
These boxes look just like regular cardboard but have one major difference: they’re coated with a thin plastic or wax layer to prevent freezer burn. That coating makes them resistant to breaking down during the recycling process.
To the naked eye, they resemble cereal boxes (which are recyclable), but the special chemical treatment means they often get rejected or contaminate paper bales. If you want to reduce waste, try buying frozen foods in recyclable trays or uncoated boxes and always check your local recycling rules to be sure.
7. Broken Glass or Pyrex
Glass jars and bottles? Recyclable. Broken window panes, mirrors, or Pyrex bakeware? Not so much. These glass types are made with different chemical compositions and melting points, which can ruin entire batches of recycled glass.
Even a small shard of tempered or ceramic glass in the recycling stream can cause quality issues in new glass products. Some cities do accept broken glass, but only if it’s clearly marked and separated.
If you break a window or dish, check with your waste provider; otherwise, wrap it securely and dispose of it in the trash to prevent injury and contamination.
Why It Matters: The Real Cost of Wish-Cycling
Recycling isn’t just about throwing things in a blue bin and feeling good about it. When we get it wrong, even with the best of intentions, it costs recycling facilities time, money, and efficiency. Worse, entire truckloads of otherwise clean recyclables can be sent straight to the landfill because of a few contaminated items.
Contamination rates in U.S. recycling programs are often over 25%, meaning nearly a quarter of what gets recycled is unusable. This undermines the entire purpose of recycling: to reduce waste, conserve resources, and protect the planet.
How to Be a Smarter Recycler
- Check your local rules – Every municipality has different guidelines. Visit your city or county’s waste management site for specifics.
- When in doubt, throw it out – It’s better to discard something than risk contaminating an entire load.
- Clean your recyclables – Rinse out containers before recycling. Food residue is one of the biggest culprits in contamination.
- Avoid plastic confusion – Just because it has a recycling symbol doesn’t mean it’s recyclable in your area.
- Educate others – Share accurate recycling info with friends and neighbors to reduce community-wide contamination.
Think Before You Recycle
Recycling isn’t just about doing the right thing. It’s about doing it right. While it’s easy to assume that tossing more into the blue bin is always better, the truth is that every misguided item can set the entire system back.
By staying informed and intentional about what truly belongs in your recycling, you not only help reduce landfill waste but also support a cleaner, more efficient future for everyone. Small shifts in habit can make a massive impact, starting with what you don’t recycle.
Have you been recycling something you now realize was a mistake? What surprised you the most?
Read More:
How To Make Money Recycling
8 Common Household Items That Are Dangerous to Trash the Wrong Way
Riley Schnepf is an Arizona native with over nine years of writing experience. From personal finance to travel to digital marketing to pop culture, she’s written about everything under the sun. When she’s not writing, she’s spending her time outside, reading, or cuddling with her two corgis.
Read the full article here
